Monday, a federal judge in Washington issued a temporary restraining order requested by Minnesota Rep. Kelly Morrison (D) and 12 other members of Congress against a Trump administration policy that had blocked lawmakers’ access to ICE detention facilities.
Morrison, who is a physician, was denied entry into an ICE detention facility in Minnesota last month said she saw inhumane conditions when she finally got in to the facility where 5-year old Liam Ramos and his father were held over the weekend. They have since been released and returned to Minnesota on Sunday.
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb said the Trump administration's policy likely violated the law requiring their unfettered access.
Morrison said there was no nurse present during her visit to the facility in Texas, and that no real medical care is being offered to detainees.
“There are no beds, no real blankets, minimal food, extremely cold temperatures. People are in locked cells, in leg shackles,” Morrison said Sunday in a social media post.
Morrison, along with fellow Minnesota Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig, were turned away from the facility on the edge of Minneapolis Jan. 10, three days after an ICE officer shot and killed U.S. citizen Renee Good in Minneapolis.
While the three had an appointment, they were told after they arrived that members of Congress now needed to provide at least a week’s notice before any visit.
They were turned away even though a federal judge in Washington in December temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing limits on congressional visits to immigration facilities.
Several members of Congress had sued earlier after they were denied entry to detention facilities.
On Monday, the same judge, Jia Cobb, issued a new temporary restraining order requested by the 13 members of Congress, including Morrison, after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Jan. 8 tried to reinstate the seven-day notice policy.
In December, Cobb blocked an earlier version of the DHS policy, and said Monday actions since that ruling have only increased the need for access to these facilities.
"If anything, the strength of that finding has become greater over the intervening weeks, given that ICE's enforcement and detention practices have become the focus of intense national and congressional interest," wrote Cobb in the ruling. "And as before, the public interest and the balance of equitable considerations weigh strongly in favor of granting Plaintiffs the limited premliminary relief of a temporary restraining order."
The judge said the plaintiffs had shown a strong likelihood that they would win in the end.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.